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NEW YORK — Prosecutors told a federal judge in open court on Friday that they were considering criminally charging certain employees of crypto venture capital firm Dragonfly Capital, including general partner Tom Schmidt, for their 2020 investment into privacy tool Tornado Cash.The discussion between prosecutor Nathan Rehn and District Judge Katherine Polk Failla of the Southern District of New York (SDNY) came amid a break in the ongoing trial of Tornado Cash developer Roman Storm, who has been charged with conspiracy to commit money laundering, conspiracy to operate an unlicensed money transmitting business and conspiracy to violate international sanctions for his work with the privacy tool — charges for which, if found guilty, he faces up to 45 years in prison.During their case, the prosecution introduced a slew of messages between Storm and two Dragonfly Capital partners, Schmidt and managing partner Haseeb Qureshi. In the context of the government’s case, the messages seemed to serve several purposes: to establish proper venue in New York (because Schmidt is based in Manhattan), to show that Storm and his colleagues profited from Tornado Cash and to show that they made frequent changes to the front end, or user interface, of the product.However, when Storm’s defense team raised the possibility of asking Schmidt to testify — likely to provide context for his and Storm’s messages and to explain the firm’s rationale for investing in Tornado Cash — prosecutors declined to grant Schmidt (as well as potentially another of the defense’s would-be witnesses) immunity from his testimony being used against him in a future prosecution, prompting Schmidt to plead the fifth and decline to testify in Storm’s defense.“Are you looking at possibly prosecuting everyone at Dragonfly?” Failla asked Rehn on Friday.“Not everyone, but Schmidt" and another individual, Rehn said, according to Inner City Press.The government then asked the judge to seal that portion of the transcript of the open-court discussion, which she agreed to do.Qureshi took to X on Friday to defend his firm’s investment in Tornado Cash, writing:“We believe deeply in Americans’ right to privacy, and the lack of it remains one of crypto’s largest unsolved problems. We therefore stand by our investment. We did not operate or exercise any control over Tornado Cash, we had no contact with any malicious users, we always encouraged our portfolio companies to follow the law, and we maintain that Tornado Cash itself has a lawful right to exist,” Qureshi wrote. “Charging a venture firm for a portfolio company’s alleged misconduct would be unprecedented, especially under these circumstances.”Qureshi added that Dragonfly has “fully cooperated” with the government’s investigation into Tornado Cash, which he said began in 2023.“After all of this time — years later — bringing charges against Dragonfly would be outrageous, contrary to the facts, and would induce a chilling effect onto all investment into crypto and privacy-preserving technologies in America,” Qureshi said. “We don’t believe the DOJ would actually bring such absurd and groundless charges. But if they do, we intend to vigorously defend ourselves.”... Read more

An early Bitcoin investor has sold 80,000 BTC through Galaxy Digital, marking one of the largest crypto transactions ever, in a trading session marked by higher volatility.... Read more

Bitcoin (BTC) rebounded on Friday from its overnight dip below $115,000, back to its familiar range it traded for the past two weeks.The largest crypto recently changed hands at $117,200, still down 1.2% over the past 24 hours.Some analysts noted the dip coincided with asset manager Galaxy moving large amount of BTC to exchanges overnight, likely related to the bitcoin whale that sent this month around $9 billion worth of BTC to trading desks. The wallets held BTC since the early years of Bitcoin's history, transferred the assets in after being dormant for more than a decade.Later on Friday, Galaxy confirmed that it completed the sale of all 80,000 BTC on behalf of a client, touting it as "one of the largest notional bitcoin transactions in the history of crypto."The sale was part of the investor's estate planning strategy, the firm said.With the selling pressure by the whale now past, some analysts predicted the lows could be in or close.John Glover, chief investment officer of crypto lender Ledn, said that BTC could put in a local bottom on Friday or over the weekend before continuing its push to new records, according to his Eliot wave analysis."Once completed (either today or over the weekend) I expect that we will complete wave iii by rallying to circa $132,000," Glover said in a market note.Read more: XRP, DOGE, SOL Lead Crypto Selloff, But Altcoin Season Still in Play if This Happens... Read more

While bitcoin (BTC) slid only modestly, other major cryptocurrencies tumbled over the past few days, sparking doubt of the durability of the so-called altcoin season.XRP (XRP), dogecoin (DOGE) and Solana's SOL (SOL) declined the most among the top 10 cryptos on Friday, slipping around 5% each over the past 24 hours, CoinDesk data shows. From the Wednesday highs, XRP and DOGE plunged around 18%, while SOL was down 12% over the same stretch. The CoinDesk 80 Index, consisting of mid-cap tokens outside of the CoinDesk 20, lost 10% from the weekly peak.Meanwhile, BTC was changing hands around $116,000, a bit more than 3% lower from its mid-week peak of $120,000. Ethereum's ether (ETH) was 4% below its weekly high, supported by steady accumulation by crypto treasury strategy firms.When altcoin season?The sharp sell-off of the past few days came after weeks heavy capital rotation into smaller tokens, fueling talks of a full-blown altcoin season. That period, sometimes dubbed alt season, occurs when riskier, smaller tokens outperform bitcoin, the leading crypto, for a sustained period.CoinGlass' Alcoin Season Index, which measures the altcoin market's outperformance versus BTC on a scale of 0 to 100, cooled off to 41 on Friday from Monday's 59, the strongest reading since the late January speculative frenzy around President Trump's inauguration.Still, the total altcoin market (except stablecoins) saw a rapid appreciation, nearly doubling in value since April, David Duong, head of research at Coinbase, said in a Friday report.For this week's pullback, traders taking on excessive leverage on altcoin bets were to blame, the report pointed out.The Altcoin Open-Interest Dominance metric, which compares the amount of dollars tied up in altcoin derivatives contracts to bitcoin's, soared to 1.6, a level that has preceded previous market shake-outs, the report noted. A decrease in the ratio would suggest a healthy leverage reset for the altcoin market, otherwise more shakeouts are expected, Duong wrote.For an extended altcoin season, investors should keep an eye on the Bitcoin Dominance, which measures BTC's share of the total crypto market capitalization. The metric has broken below the 200-day moving average for the first time since a brief period in January 2025, the report noted."A sustained move under the 200-DMA could validate the 'alt season' narrative and have historically preceded multi-week stretches of altcoin outperformance (like in 2021)," Duong wrote.However, traders might be better off waiting for more consecutive sessions closing below the level before piling into altcoin bets for a more "prudent positioning," he added.... Read more

Digital bank Revolut's crypto staking services are once again available for its customers in Hungary after pausing for a couple of weeks, a spokesperson from the company told CoinDesk on Friday.The company had paused the majority of its crypto services for customers in Hungary on July 7 due to a new law that criminalized trading on unlicensed crypto platforms, but a spokesperson told CoinDesk on Friday that Revolut was comfortable bringing staking back. It had previously resumed withdrawals, the spokesperson added.After conducting further analysis in connection with its legal position, Revolut is able to resume these [staking] services as only crypto-asset exchanges are captured by the revised legislation," a company spokesperson said in response to an emailed request for comment.Revolut's Hungary customers are now able to participate in staking, where participants can verify transactions on the blockchain network and earn rewards on tokens via its app, and can stop staking at any time.The company's other crypto services are still on pause, its spokesperson said, adding that new crypto deposits are currently not accepted but existing deposits in the app can be sent to another wallet.Revolut has also been trying to comply with the Markets in Crypto Assets legislation which requires firms to get a license in at least one European Union state to be able to operate across the bloc of 27 nations. As of June 30, customers are unable to open new accounts in the Netherlands, Finland, Hungary, Latvia and Slovenia to comply with MiCA. Revolut does not yet hold a MiCA license.... Read more

Polkadot's DOT encountered ongoing bearish momentum despite several recovery attempts, fluctuating between $3.87-$4.11 throughout the 24-hour timeframe, according to CoinDesk Research's technical analysis model.The model showed that substantial institutional purchasing activity developed at critical support zones around $3.87-$3.93, notably during elevated volume sessions at 03:00 and 14:00 hours.Significant support has developed in the $3.87-$3.93 range with resistance at the $4.11 level, according to the model.The drop in Polkadot came as the wider crypto market also fell, with the broader market gauge, the Coindesk 20, recently down 3%.In recent trading, DOT was 1.9% lower over 24 hours, trading around $3.94.Technical Analysis:Trading range of $0.24 constituting 6% differential between peak of $4.11 and trough of $3.87.Volume surpassed 24-hour average of 2.87 million during critical support evaluations at 03:00 and 14:00 hours.Robust resistance at $4.11 threshold with escalated selling momentum establishing upward movement ceiling.Support territory established within $3.87-$3.93 range with significant buying interest on elevated volume.V-shaped recovery formation emerged in final trading period with sustained rally from $3.92 minimum.Breakthrough above $3.94 resistance threshold suggesting potential short-term sentiment transformation.Disclaimer: Parts of this article were generated with the assistance from AI tools and reviewed by our editorial team to ensure accuracy and adherence to our standards. For more information, see CoinDesk's full AI Policy.... Read more

It’s hard to believe that ETH was languishing at less than $1500 in April. Now it’s above $3800 again.Ethereum’s comeback is the story of the summer. Through ETFs ($2 billion inflows in two weeks), ETH treasury vehicles and excitement around tokenization, the comeback is well and truly on. And institutions are in the driving seat. One of BlackRock’s key digital assets stars will lead Joseph Lubin’s ETH vehicle, SharpLink. As EY’s Paul Brody wrote this week, with institutions, “Ethereum Has Already Won,” and will probably keep winning for decades to come. The incumbency of the Network Effect – that a critical mass of transactions in stablecoins and tokenization will fall to Ethereum – makes it a de facto network. We’ll see.In markets:While bitcoin held steady under 120k, altcoins did well. Hell. Most of the crypto market is looking relatively healthy these days. And, according to President Trump, Jerome Powell could soon cut rates (or get fired). If so, that will help risky assets like bitcoin et al. In other big news:Roman Storm’s Tornado Cash trial intensified. CoinDesk’s Cheyenne Ligon was there. Elon signed up X/Grok to prediction market KalshiJP Morgan will offer crypto loans but faces protests from crypto trade groups over data access.See you next week.... Read more

BONK experienced aggressive volatility over a 24-hour period to end the week, swinging 15% between $0.00003185 and $0.00003763. The Solana-based memecoin initially surged on the heels of a 500 billion token burn announcement before a Galaxy Digital-linked wallet moved $18.75 million worth of BONK to major crypto exchanges, triggering a 9% pullback in under an hour.Despite the reversal, BONK stabilized above the $0.00003400 level with support in the $0.00003185-$0.00003230 zone, according to CoinDesk Research's technical analysis data model. Trading activity surged as speculative flows responded to conflicting signals: bullish supply reduction versus the bearish pressure of potential sell-side liquidity injections.The broader crypto market's shift toward altcoins continued to boost meme token trading volumes as with bitcoin's market dominance weakening. BONK has benefited from increased institutional and retail attention, even as its price action remains volatile and sensitive to on-chain movements.Technical Analysis HighlightsBONK moved between $0.00003185 and $0.00003763, a 15% swing.The price dropped 9% from a peak at 15:00 UTC to $0.00003430 by 16:00 UTC.Strong support held at $0.00003185-$0.00003230 amid multiple overnight retests.From 03:00 UTC, the price rallied to $0.00003438, showing short-term stabilization.Between 11:10 and 12:09 UTC, BONK fell 2% to $0.00003433.Reduced volume during final minutes suggests declining bearish momentum.Disclaimer: Parts of this article were generated with the assistance from AI tools and reviewed by our editorial team to ensure accuracy and adherence to our standards. For more information, see CoinDesk's full AI Policy.... Read more

SharpLink Gaming (SBET), the Nasdaq-listed crypto treasury firm that has recently emerged as one of the largest corporate holders of ether (ETH), said on Friday it has appointed former BlackRock executive Joseph Chalom as co-CEO of the firm.Chalom, who spent two decades at BlackRock in different roles, spearheaded the asset management giant's foray into digital assets and blockchain initiatives including launching the a spot ETH ETF, the press release said. He also was a board member at tokenization firm Securitize, which issues the largest tokenized U.S. Treasury fund with BlackRock."Few executives in the world have had the kind of impact Joseph has had in unlocking institutional adoption of digital assets, having pioneered BlackRock’s strategic entry into the space," Joseph Lubin, chairman of SharpLink, said in a statement.SharpLink CEO Robert Pythian will transition to president over the next quarter and remain on the board.SharpLink pivoted in May to a crypto treasury strategy focusing on Ethereum in May under the leadership of Lubin, who is the co-founder of Ethereum and CEO of Ethereum-focused development firm ConsenSys. Since then, the firm emerged as one of the most aggressive ETH buyers acquiring over $1.3 billion worth of tokens.SBET shares are lower by 3% early Friday and down 30% over the past five sessions.Read more: SharpLink's Ether Bet Surpasses $1.3B After Latest Purchase... Read more

Christie’s International Real Estate has launched a dedicated division to facilitate real estate transactions conducted entirely in cryptocurrency, the New York Times reported on Thursday. Spearheaded by Aaron Kirman, CEO of a Christie’s-affiliated firm in Los Angeles, the initiative follows several high-profile deals, including a $65 million Beverly Hills transaction where crypto was used exclusively.The new division comprises legal, financial, and crypto experts to handle peer-to-peer transactions without reliance on banks. The goal is to enable high-end buyers and sellers — often seeking privacy — to use digital assets seamlessly for real-world property acquisitions.With roughly 14% of Americans owning crypto, Kirman projects that digital currency could represent over a third of U.S. residential real estate deals within five years.The use of crypto offers enhanced buyer anonymity, often via LLCs funded directly with digital assets, making ownership harder to trace than traditional banking channels. Kirman’s crypto-accepting portfolio now exceeds $1 billion in value, including marquee properties like the $118M La Fin in Bel Air and Joshua Tree’s $17.95M Invisible House.Christie's did not respond to CoinDesk's request for further ... Read more

The first wave of U.S.-listed spot Ethereum exchange-traded funds (ETFs) has racked up nearly $8.7 million in net inflows in its first year on the market, according to public data compiled since the funds launched on July 23, 2024, despite heavy outflows out of Grayscale's Ethereum Trust (ETHE). That performance, while modest compared to their bitcoin counterparts, arrives alongside a surge in investor activity and price momentum. Over the past two weeks alone, the ETFs brought in more than $4.6 billion — nearly half of their total annual inflows — coinciding with a sharp uptick in ether’s (ETH) price.ETH gained 26% during the week of July 14, after rising 16% the week before, outpacing much of the broader market. It is now trading at $3,704, up 11% on the year.BlackRock’s iShares Ethereum Trust (ETHA) stood out among the pack by crossing $10 billion in assets under management this week. The milestone makes ETHA the third-fastest ETF in history to reach that figure, according to Bloomberg Intelligence’s Eric Balchunas. Only BlackRock’s iShares Bitcoin Trust (IBIT) and Fidelity’s Wise Origin Bitcoin Fund (FBTC) got there faster.The spot Ethereum ETFs debuted just months after the blockbuster launch of spot bitcoin (BTC) funds, which attracted billions of dollars and renewed Wall Street’s interest in crypto-based products. The Ethereum lineup includes offerings from financial giants like Fidelity, VanEck, Franklin Templeton, Grayscale, and others.The funds have now posted 15 straight days of net inflows, fueled by growing investor appetite and hopes for clearer crypto regulations in the U.S. The SEC has recently signaled openness to crypto legislation and industry engagement, prompting traders to rotate back into digital assets.... Read more

Solana’s Firedancer validator client promises huge speed boosts but faces network limits as developer Douglas Colkitt tests its full potential on Fogo.... Read more

CoinDesk Indices presents its daily market update, highlighting the performance of leaders and laggards in the CoinDesk 20 Index.The CoinDesk 20 is currently trading at 3943.11, down 2.0% (-80.67) since 4 p.m. ET on Thursday.Five of 20 assets are trading higher.Leaders: BCH (+7.2%) and HBAR (+3.6%).Laggards: SOL (-4.2%) and XRP (-3.7%).The CoinDesk 20 is a broad-based index traded on multiple platforms in several regions globally.... Read more

NEAR Protocol bounced 0.7% between 11:10 and 12:09 UTC on Thursday, erasing a brief $2.77 dip in a volatile trading window marked by sudden institutional inflows. The token whipsawed from $2.79 to $2.77 before reclaiming session highs, highlighting a two-phase move characterized by consolidation near $2.78, followed by a selloff and swift recovery.The rebound was triggered by a sharp uptick in volume, with more than 123,000 units traded after 12:01, breaking through resistance levels and signaling potential accumulation by large players. The move capped a broader 6.9% rally from $2.61 overnight support to a $2.79 close during the July 24–25 trading window, fueled by increased volatility and revived bullish sentiment.Analysts view the surge as a potential setup for a test of the $2.83 resistance level, with longer-term projections placing NEAR in a $1.95–$9.00 range for 2025 and as high as $71.78 by 2030. Continued development of cross-chain bridging with Solana and TON is cited as a catalyst for institutional interest and potential price expansion.Technical Breakout Signals Bullish Momentum$0.22 trading range represents 8.50% volatility between $2.83 maximum and $2.61 minimum during 23-hour period.Strong $2.61 support level confirmed with volume exceeding 3.18 million daily average.Recovery momentum from $2.69 to $2.79 close targets $2.83 resistance zone breakthrough.$2.78 consolidation precedes sharp $2.77 support test during mid-session volatility.Exceptional 123,000+ unit volume during final-hour surge confirms institutional accumulation phase.Multiple resistance levels broken during recovery establishing new $2.79 session highs.Disclaimer: Parts of this article were generated with the assistance from AI tools and reviewed by our editorial team to ensure accuracy and adherence to our standards. For more information, see CoinDesk's full AI Policy.... Read more

A single buyer spent more than $2.9 million on six rare CryptoPunks featuring the coveted hoodie trait, deepening a resurgence in the market for non-fungible tokens (NFTs) that has pushed up prices and volumes.The purchase, carried out in rapid succession on NFT marketplace OpenSea, came after floor prices for top collections surged across the board.Over the last 30 days, CryptoPunks jumped 29% to nearly 51 ETH (about $190,000), while Pudgy Penguins and Bored Ape Yacht Club saw 66.7% and 9.8% rises, respectively, according to CoinGecko data.The hoodie sweep stands out because a single buyer picked up all of the rare NFTs. In total, the buyer now has 12 CryptoPunks.Market data from CoinGecko shows that overall NFT capitalization jumped 66% to $6 billion in the past 30 days. CryptoPunks’ rally saw their share of the market grow past 30%.Despite the rally, the NFT sector is far behind the 2021 and 2022 boom, when the market capitalization reached $16.6 billion. Since then, major marketplaces including X2Y2 have shut down and others pivoted to token trading.... Read more